1/16/2007 @ 5:00PM

The Most Charitable Industries

With their big philanthropic announcements last year,
Microsoft
‘s
Bill
Gates
Bill Gates
and
Berkshire Hathaway
‘s
Warren
Buffett
Warren Buffett
may have been following a trend, not starting one. Companies and corporate foundations are becoming more charitable as well.

The Conference Board surveyed 211 of the largest companies and corporate foundations, and found that they gave $9.78 billion in 2005, up more than 18% from the previous year. Most of that money was spent in the U.S, with only $2 billion going overseas. More than half of all donations were products, rather than cash.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean companies have become more generous; they’re simply making more money. As a percentage of pretax income, companies in the survey actually gave less to American charities in 2005–1% of their U.S. earnings, compared with 1.6% the year before.

Pharmaceutical companies, however, are far more generous than others. Perhaps because they’re fighting an increasingly negative public image, drug firms in the survey reported donating 13% of their U.S. income to American charities.

The global numbers give a slightly different picture, but drug firms still come out on top. Pharmaceutical companies donated 1.51% of their worldwide sales to charity; no other sector gave more than 1%, and many gave less than one-tenth of 1%.

Drug companies gave the most on a per-employee basis as well: $5,585. By contrast, the media and publishing industry, which came in second place, gave only $1,549 per worker, and the third-place petroleum sector donated only $818.

Nevertheless, more companies are giving, and companies are giving more. According to the survey, which will be released to the public on Wednesday, Jan. 17, the median gift increased to $12.52 million, up from $10.73 million in 2004.

The top priority for corporate givers was health care and human services, which accounted for 44% of all contributions. Education was a distant second, attracting 12% of the money. And arts, community and environmental organizations all received less than 10%.